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The Renaissance of Your Mind: You Will Create Your World

Updated: Jan 27

Renaissance means 'rebirth'. We create our own adversity. We create our fears. We create our reality. We create our Selves. We create our world. So let’s make it a good one shall we? We are midwives to the birth of our saviour: And that saviour is you.


Loving thoughts create love in your life. This is how you change the world. Only have unconditionally loving thoughts, starting with your Self: This is the rebirth of your mind. Dr Wayne Dyer wrote “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”


This is how you create a wonderful life for you, your children, your other loved ones, and all those around you. You can’t change anyone else. But you can be so loving that you heal the world. You can be so loving that others become loving too.


Ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu’s advice on detachment from everything that disturbs our inner peace is deceptively simple but life-changing: "Be empty. Be still. Just watch everything come and go.” Lao Tzu’s wisdom is timeless. A state of being where I observe the world without judgment or attachment has done more for me than all the advice I’ve ever read on improving my inner peace.


“Be empty” to find flow like Nature, according to Lao Tzu:

“Empty yourself of everything.

Let the mind become still.

The ten thousand things rise and fall while the Self watches their return.

They grow and flourish and then return to the source.

Returning to the source is stillness, which is the way of Nature.”


The Buddha said  “A man’s mind may make him a Buddha, or it may make him a beast. Misled by error, one becomes a demon; Enlightened, one becomes a Buddha. Therefore, control your mind and do not let it deviate from the right path.”


Eckhart Tolle wrote “Be the silent watcher of your thoughts and behaviour. You are beneath the thinker. You are the stillness beneath the mental noise. You are the love and joy beneath the pain.”


Buddha said "We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world."


Be love

This was what distinguished Jesus from everyone else. He was simply a man, a philosopher, who only came from a place of love. He was love. To love is the absence of judgement. To love is to have compassion. So, how do you change your life and that of those around you? You need a renaissance of love. This is how we change the world - by only having unconditionally loving thoughts.


With our thoughts we make the world

Perhaps the most famous quote by Lord Buddha is “We are what we think, all that we are arises with our thoughts, with our thoughts we make the world.” 


The mind doesn’t understand no. So if you think about not wanting something to happen it will happen. In your prayers if you say “I want to be successful” that expresses lack of success and so you will create lack and failure. This is why 'The Golden Key' works (click here to read my previous article on this) - it focusses on the attributes required in God (and therefore in you as you are one with God) to make things happen. Remember Jesus said “Me and my father are one.” And I can guarantee that those attributes include my top three: love; compassion and forgiveness. These are superpowers. Truly.


The Buddhist perspective on mind and reality

Buddhism provides a unique viewpoint on the human mind and the nature of reality. Buddhist philosophy is based on the concepts of impermanence (Anicca), suffering (Dukkha), and the absence of a permanent self (Anatta). These three essential qualities of life serve as the foundation for the Four Noble Truths, which guide Buddhist teachings.


According to Buddhist philosophy, our usual perception of reality is marked by suffering, which stems from our attachments, cravings, and misconceptions about the nature of existence. The Buddha taught that by comprehending the true nature of reality and reforming our minds, we might liberate ourselves from suffering and experience Nirvana, a state of profound serenity and Enlightenment.


The first portion of the saying by Buddha, ‘We are what we think,’ emphasises the importance of our thoughts in shaping our sense of self and identity. In Buddhism, the mind is seen as the primary force influencing our experiences and perceptions. Our beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and attitudes together make up the fabric of our subjective world. In other words, our reality.


The idea that ‘we are what we think’ implies that our mental states not only reflect our inner reality but also influence our outward behaviour and interactions with the world. If we consistently engage in negative thinking patterns such as wrath, hatred, conflict, judgement, greed, or ignorance, we are likely to experience misery and discontent. In contrast, practising positive mental traits such as compassion, love, understanding, forgiveness, and mindfulness can lead to increased joy, fulfilment, peace, and wellbeing.


According to Buddhist philosophy, our ideas are not passive reflections of reality, but rather active agents in the production of our subjective experience.


Buddhism’s idea of ‘dependent origination’ (Paticca-samuppada) explains how our experiences are interconnected and result from a complex web of causes and conditions. Every thought, emotion, and action we take adds to the continuous process of becoming (Samsara), in which our karmic tendencies create our future experiences.


From a psychological standpoint, this theory is consistent with the concept of cognitive conditioning, in which repeated patterns of thought and behaviour reinforce neural pathways in the brain, forming our habitual responses to stimuli. Over time, these mental habits become profoundly embedded, shaping our perceptions, attitudes, and, eventually, our sense of Self. And our reality.


‘With our thoughts, we make the world,’ has far-reaching consequences for our view of reality and our ability to affect change in our lives and the world around us. This phrase emphasises the mind’s creative capacity in forming our subjective perceptions of reality.


In Buddhism, the concept of ‘mind-made phenomena’ (mano-maya) emphasises how our experiences of the Universe are filtered through the lens of our mental creations and interpretations. Our beliefs, thoughts, and expectations shape how we view and interact with the world, resulting in our subjective sense of reality.


From a practical standpoint, this insight emphasises the significance of mindfulness and awareness in influencing our views and reactions to life’s obstacles. By cultivating present-moment consciousness and monitoring our thoughts with clarity and equanimity, we can break away from the cycle of knee-jerk reactivity and conditioned behaviour.


Furthermore, the remark implies that our collective thoughts and intentions have the potential to influence the trajectory of human history and the world we live in. Throughout history, visionary leaders, social movements, and revolutions have proved the transformational power of collective action motivated by common principles and goals. Think MLK, Gandhi, and Jesus.


Recognising the importance of our ideas in influencing our experiences gives us agency and empowerment to cultivate positive mental traits and overcome habitual patterns of negativity and illusion.


Meditation is an important aspect of the Buddhist path because it trains the mind and builds attention, focus, and insight. Individuals can gain greater clarity, compassion, and wisdom through consistent practice, overcoming the limits of the ego-self and realising their intrinsic potential for awakening.


By matching our thoughts and intentions with the principles of wisdom and compassion, we promote our own and others’ wellbeing and happiness, as well as global harmony and peace.


The Buddha quote “We are what we think. All that we are stems from our thinking. With our thoughts, we create the world” contains significant insights into the nature of the mind, reality, and the human predicament. It emphasises the interconnectivity of our ideas, experiences, and perceptions, as well as the transformational power of mindfulness, wisdom, and ethical behaviour in altering our lives and the world around us.


Individuals can overcome the restrictions of egoic consciousness via introspection, meditation, and ethical living, revealing their innate capacity for awakening and release from suffering.


In doing so, they contribute to the collective evolution of human consciousness and the formation of a more loving, harmonious, and Enlightened society.


Your mind is the most powerful thing in the world


Master your mind by David Goggins with After Skool


Did Descartes get it wrong?

René Descartes famously said that “I think therefore I am.” Yet this view of us as a species that is defined as being capable of thinking independently, freely, without limitations is plain wrong, at least in part.


A Harvard study some years ago found that our mind is distracted on average about 47% of the time. By distraction, they meant that the mind was not where we expected or wanted it to be. So as an example imagine you’re reading this article when you start to think about the fact that your car is getting a bit old and unreliable and maybe you need a new one.


You wanted to stay focussed on reading this but your mind just took you away from it, without your consent, possibly even without your conscious awareness that you had started thinking about your car.


We could therefore rephrase Descartes. “I think therefore I get distracted half my life.” Or “I think sometimes but half the time my mind does what it wants to do whether I like it or not”. Granted neither of these are as pithy or profound sounding as Descartes’ version but at least now we’re on real solid ground.


We are far more conditioned than we think we are. Ironically we don’t think we are conditioned precisely because we are conditioned not to think we are conditioned. This is the absence of mindfulness. We are being dragged continually by thoughts, moods, and emotions rather than us being in control of what the mind thinks, feels, and chooses in any circumstance.


Think about it right now. Who gets angry when you get angry? Who chooses to feel depressed? Or anxious? Or hateful? Who decides that they’ll carry a grudge around with them for thirty years or more?


Who chooses to be a bigot, a racist, or sexist? It’s not you, or at least not the reasoning, intelligent, thoughtful you that Descartes suggests, because no reasoning intelligent, thoughtful person would ever allow these toxic moods or views anywhere near their precious mind.


Imagine Descartes was right. Imagine we really could be capable of total control over our thoughts, which include our feelings, moods, emotions, gut reactions. What would most of us choose to feel like? I’d imagine we’d love to feel fulfilled, happy, have a sense of joy of life, a sense of purpose and meaning. Most of us would also like everyone else to feel that way, including our leaders in government and business so that a decent, secure, happy, and purposeful society would develop.


The Buddha got it so much more accurately than Descartes. “With our thoughts, we create the world.” That’s extraordinarily profound. It’s also scary because if we’re not in control of our thoughts and where they take us, the world we create with those thoughts can become horrific. What we are witnessing in our world right now, with the resurrection of openly racist and in some cases literally neo-fascist views, can only have arisen as the result of people’s thoughts.


So if you want just a happy life for yourself, free from worries, anxiety, depression, anger, resentment, bitterness, and a score of other harmful and often self-destructive moods and emotions, you need to train your mind so it becomes less automatic, less conditioned, less distracted, and in its place, more under your direct control.

And if a good society or a sane, fruitful world is to become a reality this will require billions of people to develop control over their minds so that they do not fall prey to the influence of hateful demagogues. It starts with you. I know dozens of people who are politically engaged and active in what we’d call progressive campaigns, know what they oppose, and know what their idea of a good society is. But they’re not in charge even of their own minds, let alone able to convince others to change theirs. They display hatred and a total absence of compassion for their political opponents, celebrate every minor mistake the “enemy” makes, and generally demonstrate precisely the attitudes that they believe we need to eradicate if society is to improve.


If you want a love of life, which is simply a state of mind, you have to develop it. If you want peace of mind then do the work that brings you closer to it. Do not accept being a semi-automaton. 


If you want a good society then it really does start with you. Gandhi was another one who got it right. “Be the change you want to see in this world”. You could add, more obviously “Train yourself so that you become the change you want to see in yourself”. Or in the words of another social radical, Jesus, “First cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye”.


How to reprogramme your mind by Dr Bruce Lipton, with After Skool


Alan Watts and Eckhart Tolle on what lies beyond the mind:

Alan Watts and Eckhart Tolle on what lies beyond the mind, with After Skool


Consciousness creates reality

You are one thought away from 'hell' and you are one thought away from 'heaven'. Have you noticed how one thought can take you from hell to heaven or vice versa? Nothing has changed in the world - just your thinking.


Reality isn’t just out there: We create it. Every time we observe, we define reality. Everything we believe to be true creates our reality. We create our world with our mind and experiences. We mix, match, and keep making up our reality as we observe and interpret other realities. We are the observer. We don’t just see the world; we create our version. Our mind fills in the gaps, makes assumptions, and tells a story. That story is our reality. It comes from our beliefs, thoughts, and feelings. Reality is nothing more, and nothing less, than a mirror reflecting our inner world. We see anger, we find anger. We see love, we find love. Our beliefs and expectations define what we see. If we believe people are generally good, we will notice acts of kindness. If we expect the worst, we will see negativity everywhere. There are no objective realities, only interpretations. All realities are real, but they are observed differently. One feels joy, the other feels anger. Why? because of their unique perspectives. Your reality is your reality. My reality is mine. We can share experiences, but our interpretations are different. Every person has within themselves the entire human condition.


Herman Hesse, the author of 'Siddhartha' wrote that “There is no reality except the one contained within us. That is why so many people live such an unreal life. They take the images outside them for reality and never allow the world within to assert itself." 


Gary Zukav, the philosopher and spiritual author wrote “Reality is what we take to be true. What we take to be true is what we believe. What we believe is based upon our perceptions. What we perceive depends upon what we look for. What we look for depends upon what we think. What we think depends upon what we perceive. What we perceive determines what we believe. What we believe determines what we take to be true. What we take to be true is our reality.”


Albert Einstein puts it beautifully“A human being is a part of the whole called by us Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of Nature in its beauty.”


Reacting versus responding

I observe, interpret, and react to reality. In the process, I create my reality. My reactions shape new observations. It’s like a mirror reflecting a mirror - infinite reflections, right? But where does it start? Where does it end? Maybe there’s no end. Maybe reality is just a continuous loop of creation and observation. The key is not to react with anger, hatred, and judgement; instead respond with love, forgiveness, and compassion.


Sometimes it’s like trying to grasp smoke. The more you try to hold onto it, the more it slips through your fingers. The mystery may be the point. The beauty of reality may be in the unknown. But you can learn to grasp the Universe; and you do that by letting go and gently leaning into the flow of the river that is life: It's source is unconditional love.


The mind doesn't understand no

Research shows that the mind doesn't understand no. Any kind of no from isn’t, don’t, can’t, wouldn’t, won’t, shouldn’t, or any kind of no is not accepted. So the no gets manifested. We have to get away from no and negativity.


Sex and love addiction (a real medical condition that affects at least 6 percent of us, also known as Compulsive Sexual Behavioural Disorder, CSBD) is a misnomer. We are all addicted to unconditional love, and that's a really good thing. But the problem is that we use sex as a substitute for unconditional love - a kind of ‘imitation love’, as most of us have never received unconditional love from our parents and society (sorry but it's true). Our parents love us but they don't love us for who we are, as they never felt that they were free to be truly who they were, so the intergenerational cycle of trauma, and this is trauma, goes round and round. So we go around searching for breadcrumbs of imitation love, often through casual sex as unconditional love seems out of reach. We are, according to Dr Gabor Maté, the foremost world expert of addiction, 'hungry ghosts' and are never satisfied or full of joy. Just peer inside any nightclub at the weekend and that's what pretty much everyone is doing. Emotional anorexia is thus one of the hardest aspects of sex and love addiction: Both for the addict and all those around them. Emotional. anorexia is using sex to allay the pain of not feeling unconditionally loved. If we don't use sex, then any substitute form of external validation will do: status, material things, achievements, social media likes, etc. etc. - the bread and butter of what makes the world go round, but it's toxic to us and each other.


Love is the most powerful force in the Universe

Emmet Fox, the author of the book 'The Sermon on the Mount' wrote “There is no difficulty that enough love will not conquer: no dis-ease that love will not heal: no door that enough love will not open... It makes no difference how deep set the trouble: How hopeless the outlook: How muddled the tangle: How great the mistake. A sufficient realisation of love will dissolve it all. If you could only love enough, you could be the most powerful person in the world... Love is God and is therefore absolutely all-powerful. This is the scientific application of love, against which nothing evil can stand. It destroys the evil condition and, if a person is concerned, it sets him as well as you free. But to return hate for hate, curse for curse, or fear for aggression, has the effect of amplifying the trouble, much as a feeble sound is multiplied in volume by an amplifier. Meeting hatred with Love in the scientific way is the Royal Christ Road to freedom. This is the perfect method of Self-defence in all circumstances. It renders you absolutely invulnerable to any kind of attack.”


Words have energy: Words create worlds

We are all the subconscious architects of our realities. First of all, I think we should take a moment to appreciate what is happening right now as you read these words… To begin with they started as the energy of the thing we call thoughts in my mind, which were then passed down to my fingers using electrical impulses to tap the words out using the letters on the keyboard of my laptop. It’s really remarkable how our words, whether written or spoken, have enabled us to communicate to be able to share ideas and thoughts and build relationships and communities, and to create “worlds”!


Words actually cause a physical reaction in the body, and hormones get released that trigger an emotional response. And I’m not just talking about words other people say to you, I’m also talking about the things you say to yourself. And sometimes the things we say to ourselves aren’t always all that nice.


And it’s because everything (and everybody) is energy. Energy is a frequency, a vibration, and that has a ripple effect on everything in the universe. Intention changes the energy of words. If you are being mean the energy is low-vibe, and conversely, if you are being loving the energy is high-vibe. 


Experiments by a Japanese scientist

Dr Masuro Emoto did some truly mindblowing experiments on the power of words on water in order to demonstrate the different effects of low and high-vibe words.


He studied frozen water crystals (yep snowflakes!) that were made from pure water compared with those made from polluted water. He also did experiments with writing positive and negative words on vials of water and after 24 hours of freezing them studied them under a microscope.


The crystals from pure water and positive words were clear and perfectly formed. The polluted water and negative word crystals were grey and misshapen.


Watch the video linked below and have your mind blown…

Water Experiments by Masaru Emoto


Spelling and metaphor

We SPELL words. We cast spells. Thats why its called spelling.


Thoughts create words, words create pictures, and pictures create worlds. There is an ancient Chinese proverb “One picture is worth ten thousand words.” And this is why visualisation (the images you create to bring about what you wish for) is such a powerful tool.


It’s an amplification of your words, which is an amplification of your thoughts.


And the energy that amplifies your visualisation is the emotion, the feelings, and the full sensory load of what something you desire in your life looks like, feels like touch, smells like, sounds like. And this my friend is how you create worlds. How you create your world. How you “magic” things into being. This is the power of the metaphor. A metaphor is as close as we can get to describing truth, and as such carries great power.


Syd Banks, thought and reality

Syd Banks, the Scottish welder who became enlightened, described this beautifully in this video:


Sydney Banks on separate realities


He described his insight in this video:


Sydney Banks - The Insight


He described ‘The Three Principles’ in this video:


Sydney Banks - The Three Principles 


Truth, God, and Universal consciousness are all feelings. The ultimate state is a feeling of joy, peace, and love with no thought. Thinking creates individual realities. You are only one thought away from heaven. No thought brings you to spiritual bliss and access to the intuitive guidance of Universal intelligence. These are the gifts of a spiritual practice including yoga, meditation, and mindfulness.


Your mind is an excellent servant, but a terrible master, with After Skool


Writing Online

The mind can be messy. It can be hard to understand what’s going on inside. Without an outlet, it can even go around in circles.


That’s why I love writing online. It allows me to take my scattered thoughts and turn them into something meaningful. It allows me to use my creativity and connect with others. It allows me to get to know myself better.


As a result, my mind feels stimulated, engaged, curious, and expansive. Charles Bukowski wrote “Basically, that’s why I wrote: to save my ass, to save my ass from the madhouse, from the streets, from myself.”


Water the seeds that you want to grow

Thich Nhat Hanh wrote that there are only ever two choices to make in life; which one we choose has a tremendous impact on our life. “Your mind is like a piece of land planted with many different kinds of seeds: seeds of joy, peace, mindfulness, understanding, and love; seeds of craving, anger, fear, hate, and forgetfulness. These wholesome and unwholesome seeds are always there, sleeping in the soil of your mind. The quality of your life depends on the seeds you water. If you plant tomato seeds in your gardens, tomatoes will grow. Just so, if you water a seed of peace in your mind, peace will grow. When the seeds of happiness in you are watered, you will become happy. When the seed of anger in you is watered, you will become angry. The seeds that are watered frequently are those that will grow strong.”


Conclusions

Whatever happens in our lives is what we have thought in our minds. You have the power to influence your reality. That is really exciting. There are people who think, I wish this doesn’t happen and boom that is the thing that happens. Instead of thinking what you don't want; think of what you do want in your life to happen. Pray as though it has already happened, and give thanks. This is 'The Golden Key' to life: This is how Jesus prayed.


So, knowing all this, what are you going to create today with your thoughts? Just a hint - make them loving!


Repeat after me: “I have the power to shape my world using my words, and I choose to choose my words with love.” So, when you are faced with any decision, simply ask, "What would love do now?"

The answer will tell you all you need to know.


George Bernard Shaw wrote that “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” Are you ready to change your mind?


Namaste.


Sending you love, light, and blessings brothers.


Olly



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Hello,

I am delighted and enchanted to meet you. I coach men with 'Deep Coaching', 'Supercoaching', and Transformative Life Coaching (TLC). Thank you for reading this far. I very much look forward to connecting with the highest version of you, to seeing your highest possibility, and to our conversations. Please do contact me via my email for a free connection call and a free experience of coaching on Zoom or in person. 


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I have a Bachelor's degree in Natural Sciences from Trinity College, Cambridge; a Master's Degree in Philosophy from Trinity College, Cambridge; a PhD Doctorate in Scientific Research from University College London (UCL); a Medical Degree (MD/MBBS) from The Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, London and have been a doctor and reconstructive trauma and cancer surgeon in London for 20 years. I have a number of other higher qualifications in science and surgery. I have published over 50 peer reviewed PubMed cited scientific journal articles, have been an associate editor and frequent scientific faculty member, and am the author of several scientific books. I have been awarded my Diploma in Transformative Life Coaching in London, which has International Coaching Federation (ICF) Accreditation, as well as the UK Association for Coaching (AC), and the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC). I have been on my own transformative journey full time for over five years and I am ready to be your guide to you finding out who you really are and how the world works.




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